Robert Griffin III's jersey has been sold more in a single-season than any other player's since the NFL began keeping track. / Evan Habeeb, USA TODAY Sports

by Chris Strauss, USA TODAY Sports

by Chris Strauss, USA TODAY Sports

Tebowmania might have dominated television storylines last season, but RGIII fever is having a major impact on the bottom line of the league's retailers this year.

An NFL spokeswoman told ESPN.com that purchases of Robert Griffin III's Redskins jersey have already set a record for single-year sales on NFLshop.com with three and a half months remaining in the league's fiscal year.

"The NFL will not provide specific sales numbers but did say that Griffin moved into the top spot by overtaking Brett Favre, who previously held the record for most jerseys sold in a year twice -- with the New York Jets in 2008 and the Minnesota Vikings in 2009. In the past couple of weeks, Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos jersey has become the fourth-highest seller, surpassing sales of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in 2007."

The league has only been using this method to monitor player jersey sales for six years, so it's difficult to quantify his popularity as a rookie compared to sensations in the 80s, 90s and even farther back.

This got us thinking. Which players in history would have made an equal smash apparel wise had they had the ease of online retailers, the visibility provided by a national platform (NFL Sunday Ticket, 24-hour sports media cycle, etc.) and a likability that transcends team loyalties?

All of the examples in the past six years stated in the ESPN story are either established stars with new teams, players in breakout years (i.e. Romo) or exciting rookies.

Here are three jerseys that could have been even bigger sellers back in the day given an even playing field.

1) Bo Jackson, Los Angeles Raiders, 1987The Heisman Trophy winner was already a known entity by the time he finally appeared on a football field in the middle of the 1987 season. Just a month after his debut, he ran for 221 yards on Monday Night Football and became the biggest sensation in the game. This was also during an era where West Coast rap groups like N.W.A. were making Raiders gear popular among kids across the country. Had the Internet been around then, the numbers would have been astounding.

2) Joe Montana, Kansas City Chiefs, 1993If Brett Favre led the league in jerseys sold with two new teams, Joe Montana certainly would've done the same when he switched to number 19 after leaving the 49ers. Kansas City isn't a nationally trendy team, but that didn't stop legions of people from snagging Minnesota unis in 2009.

3) Joe Namath, New York Jets, 1965One of the biggest rookie sensations in pro football history (the AFL and NFL hadn't merged yet), Namath would have been an even larger sensation than he was with the platforms available to Griffin.

What other historical players would've been single-season selling smashes? The floor is yours, Facebook commenters.